Crosstown wrestling rivalry comes with a new tradition in 2021

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - Stakes are always high when it comes to a crosstown rivalry.

“Crosstown rival its always fun, I look forward to it,” said Nate Schindler, a senior at North High School.

With the return of high school athletics to Eau Claire this winter, wrestling is back, but not all the way.

Jake Rebhen, head varsity wrestling coach at North told WEAU,

“Typically by this point in the season kids on our team would have between 20-25 matches ... this year one kid has six matches.”

Less matches, means more excitement when the time comes to stop onto the mat again.

“One thing they’re doing really well is getting excited about the chances they do have the wrestle which is awesome because we don’t have a ton of them,” said Sam Burzynski, head coach at Memorial.

Now, after nearly 60 years of competition between North and Memorial’s wrestling teams, they’re tossing in a new tradition to raise the bar. They’re calling it the Big Rivers Wrestling Rivalry Trophy.

“I just told my kids about the trophy and they were all pretty excited,” Burzynski said.

“I’ve always thought we should have a trophy that we should pass back and forth to whoever wins and we definitely want to take that home this year that’s one of my goals,” said Hendrik Boese, a senior at Memorial.

“We all want the trophy here. It’s the first year we’re doing this trophy so we all want it at North,” Davin Xiong, senior at North told WEAU.

Superintendent Michael Johnson will present the new trophy to the crowned champs after Thursday night’s action.

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